No Pain: Book 1

Chapter 2: Star

The building is one of the tallest buildings in New York and Drew is at the top. A part of the top you can only get to from the outside. I take a breath and crack my neck "here we go." I go in through the front doors and take the elevator to the top floor. I don't feel pain but as far as I know, I can still die. Just don't look down Najee would say to me now. Fear of heights is such a ridiculous fear.

"Focus, Star." I shake myself and open the window. I take a single second, a second I shouldn't even take, to steady myself and step out onto the ledge. I force my trembling hands to still as I press myself against the wall and slide my feet along the ledge.

"Drew, you'd better be there." I swallow my fear and count my steps. Twenty steps to the door. one... two... three... "Almost there."

ten... eleven... twelve... "just a few more."

seventeen... eighteen... nineteen...

I run my hand over the wall trying to find the handle "twenty-" my foot slips, my body lurches forward. I can see how it will happen. I'll plummet the whatever thousand feet to the ground and splatter, except that's not how I was trained. My hand catches the ledge and I dangle there for a moment. Funny how your body reacts the way it's trained despite the moment of fear that swallows your mind. My heart pounds against my chest and I struggle to steady my breath.

"Drew, open the door!" I bark trying to mask my quivering voice with anger. If you can't feel pain, I don't see the point in fear, but you only get one abnormality.

"Star?" The door pulls in and Drew pops his head out. He finds me immediately and smiles "you fall every time." He grabs my arms, still snickering, and pulls me up. "Enough hanging around."

"You're really not funny, Drew." I pull myself the rest of the way through and he closes the door behind me. I take a moment to gather myself before I speak.

"I need you to find the team for me."

"What?" His eyes are blank.

I shake my head "No one told you?"

"Told me what?" He takes a seat at his computer "I haven't seen any of you guys since the last mission. About a month ago now?"

Of course, they wouldn't tell him. He doesn't need to know I shake myself and try not to get angry. "I got left behind on a mission and the team is in trouble." I plop down on the little twin bed beside the wall. Drew is a lexic and he's smart. His abnormality allows him to make sense of codes and patterns that no one else can. The only catch is that he can't read regular words. I think that used to be called dyslexia.

"They left you behind?" He asks in disbelief "Why? You're their leader."

"The boss outranks me." I shrug and lay back on the bed man I'm tired "that doesn't matter, I need to know if you can find them." I rub my eyes and push myself up. "They're in a lot of trouble if I can't get the information to them."

"Wha- never mind" He knows it's pointless to ask, if he needed to know I would have told him. Drew isn't part of the team. He's an outside source which is why I can still rely on him.

"Can you find them or not?" I demand impatiently. He sighs and turns back to his computers.

"I don't know, Star. You guys are excellent hiders. When you guys don't want to be found, you're not." He taps at the keys and his eyes scan over his computer screen. Everything in his computer from top secret files from us, to his mom's cinnabon recipe is in whatever he calls that language. If you try to hack his computer, it's over. Not only does his computer self-destruct but it also sends out a virus that destroys the attacker's computer too.